How many friends do you have?

[Hertfordshire10012]

How many friends do you have? How did you meet them? Do you wish you had more? I have three close friends, met them during studying my degree. I rarely seen them. I would like more friends but it is so difficult, going to clubs/ societies is quite hard to do and there are many that interest me.

Lots, some old school friends, one from uni, a few old work friends from previous jobs, some from current job but old teams, some from the WI.

I know a lot of people, but I don't have any friends, I like it that way.

Best friend of 25 years met through toddler group who I see once a fortnight

once a year school friend who I see twice a week and we have lunch once a fortnight

a friend I met on a cruise and now visit her abroad or go on holiday with her once a year

Aqua aerobics friend

two cousins who are also friends who I see twice a year.

a few ladies who are friendly acquaintances as I feel at friend capacity.

That should say I see my aqua friend twice a week and my school friend once a year.

Define friend. 4 I could turn up at 2am in the morning no questions asked and they could do the same (although 2 are a couple). Lots of people not aquantencies but more but if i never saw them again for whatever reason that would be ok too.

Ooh, erm, zero. Or maybe two, but I wouldn’t say we are close. I do not play well with others.

I’m friendly with my work colleagues but don’t socialise with them outside of work. I don’t really have the time or energy to put into friendship anymore and have become increasingly content in my own company as I’ve got older.

I'm not sure what you mean by "friend"

I had a really good supportive set of friends who mostly disappeared through lockdown, marriage kids etc

That original group, there are two left

I've managed to make new ones to have the odd meal out with but I have no idea if they'd actually help me if I was ill or something. Probably too new to really know.

I don't count acquaintances

editing to add - what do you mean when you say it's hard to go to clubs please?

Loads! Couple of school friends I see rarely, loads of uni friends we try and get together every few months. Work friends, mum friends from each of my DDs years, book club friends and my sister lives close by and we socialise lots.
I can’t imagine having no or very few friends DH and I are very sociable and have passed this onto our kids who have manic social lives too! Nothing better than getting together with friends.

Lots. Some closer than others. Some due to mutual interests and work and some because our personalities gel. Some since childhood and others from other stages in life, such as school, university, work, hobbies, clubs etc.

If you want more friends, then go out and meet people. Don't be too intense and take people as you find them. Friendships take a while to grow and can't be forced, so relax and don't stress about it.

At school I was one of those ‘friends with everyone, everyone’s friend’ people, which actually leaves you being no one’s priority. With hindsight I now see that it sometimes pays to be cliquey.

Between leaving school and having kids I didn’t really have any proper friends come to think of it - just hung out with now-DH and had pals but no one very close.

Had first kid and moved areas at the same time. Had a few years as a new parent in a new place pretty lonely. Found 3 friends through 3 different baby groups, who are now still my friends 10 years later.

Kept trying to make more friends as always wanted that call-in-middle-of-night tribe. Or even just 1 friend like that.

Collected another good friend along the way from the mum bunch, so up to 4 good friends but they know but aren’t friends with each other.

Joined a choir and that gave me about 10 great women in my same phase of life, same outlook, same interests, who are all really impressive and creative and generous and kind. Love them! But we’re not close although there’s a lot of potential there. Just everyone is too busy to spend time getting super close. They’re good reliable souls though and whenever we get together it’s inspiring. So finding them was just luck I think.

Then from childhood I have 1 friend but she never asks any questions so doesn’t know much about me. Another I see about once a year and she has a heart of gold but has about. 100 close friends (not exaggerating) so very hard to pin down which is fair enough! See them both about once a year due to distance.

Then my cousin who is my bosom buddy but 200 miles away.

Feel pretty happy with my lot at the moment (I’m mid 30s), after some very lonely years.

Everyone is so busy. Eg 1 friend has cancelled on me for the past 3 Fridays trying to get the kids together (weather, ill, shattered kids etc), so we have now arranged to get together without the kids and the first date we could both do is mid December.
Ditto trying to get together with 2 mum friends and first date we could all do is mid November. And I had to prompt arranging it about 3 times.
Just got to keep trying and remain cheerful and chill!

I'd say 15 close friends. Maybe 20 others j see occasionally.,
I m 54 so had alot of life experience!!

Depends what I class as friends. I have two friends I see often. Another two who I see fairly often with one of the close friends. I go out for one-to-one walks or coffee catch ups once or twice a month with about five other friends. Meet up for dinner about once every couple of months with couples we are friendly with. DH is very solitary so we don't really have many couples friends.

I have some friends I pretty much only see when we go on holiday together once a year, and the same with another old school friend, who I see once a year for a weekend away together.

I have another group of friends met through a hobby online. We meet up a couple of times a year as a big group and occasionally individually or in smaller groups.

I have some colleagues who I only see once a year when we work on a project together but we get on really well and have for years. We always go for dinner and walks and have a little party when we work together.

I have a few friends from childhood or uni who I almost never see but consider close as we've known each other for forty or fifty years. One lives quite near but we barely manage to meet up more than once a year.

So, there's no one I see often, as in several times a week, but lots of different people I see about once or twice a month and that really works for me.

I have 6 really close friends where I grew up.
2 good friends where I live (with several others I meet for dog walks/ coffee/ the odd drink)
2 really good friends from training together when I was in my early 20s
2 really good friends and their partners from uni.
3 couples who are my husband's uni friends who I am very close to and now count the as my friends.
Then I meet yearly with 10 old school friends in a group and whatsapp all the time( one of whom I meet with for dog walks).
I also have a group I meet from my old workplace - I who has turned into a proper non work friend.
How many could would I call at 3am and they would drop everything? I'd say 4.

It all depends on what you mean by friends. I know loads of people - go out with several of them - but friends are the people I can call on, who phone me when I am going through a rough patch. The people I would stop what I am doing to help out and who would do the same for me. Probably 6.

Lots of friends and friendship is very important to me. I’ve gathered friends from school (still my best friends), university, work, being a mum and am very close with my sisters in law too. Once I’ve gained a friend, I seem to mostly hang on to them for years even if I don’t see them all the time.
I speak to me best friends on the phone as least weekly and meet my local friends once or twice a week. DH is similar although we don’t socialise regularly as a couple really; prefer to be just the 2 of us on our date nights.

4 from school meet a couple times of year if we are lucky
2 close local friends speak regularly but go a few months without seeing them as life is busy
a few ex work colleagues a few times a year meet ups
current work colleagues x3 sporadic socialising
I had other friendships that I realised didn’t have my best interests at heart so I moved away from
I feel I could do with more friends or making more time/effort with the ones I have. They aren’t all local which is hard. My work can be lonely so I think I notice it.
Dp and my kids are my main focus/time. I wonder as kids grow up if I’ll have more time for friends. I do worry I’ll be lonely. But I would rather decent friends than fake ones! I have learnt that,

Very similar.
I probably have about 10 people I could turn up with a bag and be able to stay at their house for a week or so in an emergency. But at my last big birthday had about 90 friends come to my house party.
I have many acquaintances as well who some become good friends and some fall to the wayside.
I have friends who I knew as a baby and have collected them ever since. I obviously have lost some over time but tend to be friends with people who dont mind me not remembering birthdays ((and visa versa) or speaking for ages and then spending 4 days at a festival together.

You are doing well, I found my 30’s were a bit of a drought friend-wise. In fact it was upcoming 40th that prompted me to really go for it with trying to get friends. I went on los if ‘dates’ such as coffees, had a few women over for lunch etc and then ended up with some nice friends from
my DS’s football club. One is my best friend and the others I were friendly with for about 10 years or so and we had lots of fun. Not besties but they were up for nights out.

1 from 1st day of primary school, 54 years
2 from University
4 from various work places, longest 35 years
2 from ante natal classes
3 from the school gate
3 neighbours
5 from hobbies and volunteering

I am 59, 3 of my closest friends, 1 school, 1 work and 1 University have died over the last 6 years. One was only 41 and the other two both died aged 54. When my friend from school died I was distraught. I had for her a very deep platonic love, we had known each other since we were 12.

7 dearly loved friends. 1 school friend I see every few months. 1 college friend I see every few months. 4 friends I picked up in the post uni period I see every few months. 1 friend who lives abroad, we chat twice a year or so.

I didn't really make any uni friends as my friends were all my BFs friends and he wasn't at Uni but lived in same city then we broke up after and I didn't stay in touch.

I spent a lot of my 20s feeling like I was on the periphery of people's friendship groups which I suppose I was as I never fully immersed myself in making my own friends but tagged onto other people's groups.

That was a habit I developed at school as I was bullied horribly at the start of secondary and learned that it was safer not to stand out.

A group of 6 friends we adore and meet up with 2 times a year with all the kids. Sometimes see 2 of them separately. Met through Uni basically.

Best friend who lives locally and her husband. Met at secondary school

Group of 4 friends that I met through work years ago and see every few months.
3 more friends who are all linked but I don’t really see in person any more, but we message each other semi regularly.

I also go out with my team at work at Christmas and we might do another meal out in the year.

3 friends I could call at 2am

4 friends I could probably call at 2 am

Then lots of lots of mates who I socialise with in groups (book club, mums night out, PTA quizzers, camping crew, dinners, orchestra friends, couple friends) who provide joy and laughter and fun and lovely group experiences with and without kids but I couldn’t necessarily count on individually if chips were down, although all very kind ladies.

It’s the perfect mix for me and means I am socialising one or 2 times a week and away with friends 2-3 times a year. I’m sociable.

I’ve got four good friends. Three of which I see regularly. I’ve got lots of other mates (around 14) who I see from time to time but they’re not besties.